Professional Ethics
Professional ethics is a general moral and behavioral principle that people must follow in their organizational environment. These principles, like organizational culture, are different according to various jobs in each position and business. We can look at it as a competitive advantage to reduce intro-organizational challenges and tensions, as well as a catalyst to quickly achieve the predetermined goals of the organization.
For example, the unfavorable habit of “pull the rug from under somebody” which as an intro-organizational tension can take away the opportunity for growth and advancement from the organization and employees. Such tensions can be avoided to a great extent by enhancing professional ethics within the organization. Ethical principles are formed from a large institution such as society and continue to spread to smaller spaces like an organization, where it is known as organizational-culture. Professional moralities are formed when organizational ethics become the basis for the organizational commitments.
The Importance of Professional Ethics in an Organization
If we imagine professional moralities are as a double-edged sword in the organization, one edge will be destructive and harmful and the other edge will be useful and effective. In this way, its destructive edge will cause stagnation, financial losses and disintegration of the organization due to intro-organizational tensions. Because it involves the management in solving existing oppositions and issues and takes the opportunity to receive information and more important issues from him/her. Therefore, management of existing crises and thinking of necessary measures to avoid possible risks and obstacles weakens the management. On the other hand, the beneficial edge, a professional moralities prevails in the organization. In this situation, the mentality of all people is focused on the goals of the company, and thus they do not have a chance to deal with rumors.
Methods for the Development of Professional Ethics in an Organization
As a professional manager, in order to create professional moralities in the organization under our management, we must observe some cases and frameworks:
1. Be an Individual Model
We can expect professional morality and ethics from our employees when we ourselves are in the correct behavioral and ethical framework. A manager should be a good model for employees in all aspects of personality.
2. Creating a Safe Work Environment
An environment where people have psychological and personal security makes them more capable and professional people. In such an environment, people find themselves psychologically and personally at ease, and their adherence to moral principles increases.
3. Clarity of Dos and Don’t s
Clarity of the organization’s demands and expectations from the employees is the first step towards the formation of professional and internal ethics. In every organization, there is a specific moral and behavioral framework that is sometimes written and sometimes unwritten. The clear expression of these frameworks along with the related details transforms people into committed personalities with high work prestige.
4. Education and Advice
To create an ethical environment, we can also use training and counseling tools. Individual and collective consultations can be a sure step towards creating professional moralities in the organization.
Obstacles to The Development of Professional Ethics
1. Projection
It means ignoring our own role in affairs and emphasizing the role of environmental stimuli and factors. We should not make the observance of moral principles dependent on their observance by other people. Even if other employees or even customers do not comply with it , we in turn are required to comply with these principles.
2. Moral Conflicts
It is a state where we are in a moral dilemma between bad and worse. It means that the two ways that are in front of us are both bad and unpleasant, but we have to choose one of these two according to the existing conditions.
3. Lack of Motivation
Professional ethics and lack of motivation have a direct relationship with each other. When people don’t have motivation for professional morality in the organization environment, with the justification that others don’t try to comply with ethical frameworks, the level of professional moralities in the organization decreases.
4. Lack of Proper Distribution of Responsibilities in the Organization
When each person has not been placed in the right position based on their abilities, it will be natural and predictable to violate professional ethics to achieve their main position. Therefore, a professional manager should take into account abilities, records, personality and other relevant factors in dividing and placing people in different positions.
To Sum Up
In order for the organization to achieve success and predetermined goals, many factors are necessary, and compliance with professional ethics is one of them. In order to achieve this goal, we should not expect to be able to progress very quickly by preparing a manual or a code of ethics. Professional ethics should be institutionalized as an internal organizational value and employees should have a flexible and accepting spirit to adhere with it.
